I used to love calzone, and I happened to make some great vegan cheese yesterday – and here I used a combination of the two. Meanwhile, I purchased some super mushrooms for the filling, and made a homemade tomato and pumpkin sauce for a Halloween twist, and boy, oh boy did this fatso work ! The crust was inspired from my non-vegan days, when I had tasted a crust with honey drizzle – only this tastes better, as maple has that magic about it, and marries well with many savoury dishes, I find. This pizza is a masterpiece. My cheeses will be published in my book, due out next year. Meantime, Daiya, or other vegan cheese/s of your choice are more than welcome, and will work well, so long as they melt. This can be served with a green salad, or a coleslaw.

First, using the back of a spoon, smear half the pumpkin & sun dried tomato paste over one half of your first pizza base, leaving a border of around ½ inch.

Then distribute half the mushrooms evenly over the paste, and do the same with half the grated cheese. Sprinkle on oregano, pour a little olive oil over the cheese, then close the pizza by folding the empty half of the base over the half with topping, and then seal, using your thumbs to press around the edges. You should be left with a large dome-like semicircle.

Finally drizzle maple syrup over the top of the pastry.

Repeat these steps for the second calzone, and place them both in your preheated oven in your oven until the edges become golden.

Remove from oven, wait a couple of minutes, before then cutting and serving. Bon Appétit !

Spicy Pumpkin & Sun Dried Tomato Sauce

INGREDIENTS

¾ kg pumpkin (weight unpeeled), peeled and chopped into large pieces

2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1 tsp tomato paste

1 to 2 small red chili peppers

½ tsp paprika

4 sun-dried tomatoes, halved

a drizzle of olive oil

a pinch of sea salt

METHOD

Having steamed your pumpkin until soft, remove and set aside.

Next, place all the ingredients except for the pumpkin in a medium sized bowl, and blend with a hand blender until smooth.

Add in the pumpkin, and process again – but don’t over-process. You should be left with a nice thick paste.

All of your recipes are so wonderful, and I appreciate all of your hard work, and that you share them with all of us! I can’t thank you enough! I’m interested in what type of vegan cheese you use. Do you have a recipe for it, or do you buy it somewhere. When the perfect vegan cheese is available, I think there will be a lot more people who decide to choose the vegan diet and lifestyle! Thank you for your time, and everything that you do!

Sarah Hi there and thanks for your very complimentary comment. The cheese in this recipe is my own home made vegan cheese, it melts but does not stretch in the way that dairy cheese stretches as it has no casein (casein is not vegan and is naturally found in dairy cheese and it’s what makes it stretch when heated). That said, I don’t like most of the vegan cheeses available and set out to make my own – I am happy with the result of mine and have created other style cheeses too, again, because as a vegan it’s the only thing that I missed. I have had my best cheese/s published in my upcoming book which will be out on the shelves by next spring (I have a list of people who are interested who I will contact closer to the time). My book entitled “Mouthwatering Vegan” is being published by Random House Canada (Appetite which is an imprint of Random) and there will be a great deal of exciting recipes and their pics – I have chosen to include delicious and easy to make dairy substitutes in addition to the recipes to encourage others to enjoy the wonderful delights of vegan cuisine that I have created. Best wishes your way !

This one’s truly left me speechless . . . mainly because I can’t take a break between mouthfuls. I made it for supper tonight for the family, and we are truly in Heaven as we round off a wonderful weekend. Thanks as ever for your wonderful recipes, Miriam @ MWV !!

Brett Hi there and thanks so much for dropping by here with your comment and feedback. Am overjoyed at the outcome for you and your family ! That’s awesome and I look forward to your future comments on my blog ! Best wishes your way !

Miriam, this looks AMAZING!! Also I am so excited to learn that you have a cookbook coming out. I can hardly wait to buy it!!!! I’m wondering if you have your cheese recipe in a past blog for making this calzone? Is it a cashew or almond based cheese? If we weren’t in the midst of Hurricane Sandy and at risk of losing power any time I would o be making this today!!

Anne Hi there and welcome here. Thanks for your comment and interest in my book – I shall add you to my list of people who are interested and e-mail you closer to the time when it is due out. You may be happy to know that some of my best cheeses are going to be published in it and that they are very easy to prepare – I cannot say more since the book is not yet available. Meantime, can you get hold of some Daiya cheese to use for this ? I am so very sorry to hear about Hurrican Sandy, but will look forward to your feedback on this as and when you can make it. Meantime best wishes your way and take care.

Finally! This Vegan recipe looks and tastes so incredibly good that even my non-vegan husband is asking for seconds! I am so glad that you are doing this! Thank you so much and I wish you the best of luck with your book. I will be purchasing a copy of it as soon as it is available. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Going to try this this week. But I live on an island and cannot find vegan cheese so will have to use some cheddar. But it looks amazing! May even suggest the chef offers it on pizza night in our hotel too.

Hi Josie, and thanks for your comment. It’s a pity to have to revert to dairy cheese – I realize vegan cheese is not sold everywhere. I make my own vegan melting cheese and it will be published in my upcoming book. A main ingredient in vegan cheese is nutritional yeast and can be purchased online. Best wishes.

Looks and sounds awesome, thank you! Really looking forward to your book now, this was news to me! Please add my e-mail to the notification list for when it can be pre-ordered. Do you use starter cultures at all for making your own cheeses? You must be Canadian too if it’s being published here. Very cool, my first culinary hero when I started out with fine cooking was Christine Cushing. Since my wife and I have gone vegan this summer, my old Food Network heroes have all been replaced by yourself, Lindsay Nixon and Isa Chandra Moskowitz, who I regard as vegan pioneers. I am thankful there was an abundance of knowledge and amazing recipes awaiting when we made the transition, all made available by people such as yourself. It has put the spark back into cooking for me, with an exciting journey of exploration with new ingredients, techniques and tastes. Cooking had lost its joy and had became nothing more than a chore for me beforehand. I thank and applaud you for all you have done, all the hard work, time, and expense involved with this blog, without even advertising revenue to compensate you! But something you can enjoy that no Food Network celebrity can is knowing that your work has helped save lives, not only for people, but animals too! I wish you much success with your book, cheers!!

Dear Richard, I cannot tell you how deeply I appreciate your words, how wonderful that you have embraced every aspect of my passion and delivery of vegan cuisine. You will be very happy to know that many of the recipes in my upcoming book are new, some of them breathtaking, many never done or thought of before, a multicultural celebration of tastes, textures, colours and aromas and I hope you enjoy all of them. I am not Canadian but a mixture of Greek, Cypriot with other Mediterranean undertones. I was born in the UK and therefore I have some deep roots there too. I am an artist, cook and nutritionist and I hope you also join our other free FB page – called ‘Vegan Rejuvenation’. Meantime, I have added you to both my lists, the 1st for our new and upcoming monthly newsletter and also to my book list. Thank you for putting a huge smile on my face. I wish I could copy your tribute to my recent ‘Best Online Vegan Recipe Guide’ 2012 Award which I won a few weeks back – here is the link to it and if you paste your comment there, I will be grateful to you. http://mouthwateringvegan.com/2012/11/01/winner-uk-vegan-awards-2012/

Very Best Wishes to you and I look forward to your future comments on my blog.

Marilyn Hi there and welcome here. Many thanks for your interest in my upcoming book. It will be published by a new Random House imprint ‘Appetite’ and available in June on Amazon as well as other places. Can give you more information and will add you to my list to notify you closer to the time if you wish. It should be available for pre-ordering in January. Meantime I can add you to our new monthly newsletter due out some weeks from now if you wish. Best wishes your way in the meantime.

Even though I know your book will have marvelous recipes I would get the book for the cheese recipe alone..lol I am not vegan yet taking baby steps but I am eliminating thing from my diet a little bit at a time and doing tons of research. Your site has the most delicious looking recipes and this is another recipe I can’t wait to give it a try. Thanks for what you do it really helps people like me on trying to decide on a healthier lifestyle change.

Letha Hi there and thanks for dropping by here with your comment. Kudos to you for choosing the vegan dietary journey, and I think you are doing just fine. Thanks for your interest in my book too. Meantime, may I suggest that you join my new upcoming monthly newsletter – I will add you to my list today unless I hear to the contrary. I do indeed endeavour to create the most mouthwatering vegan recipes on the web and I am grateful to hear that they are being enjoyed and shared ! Many best wishes your way, and any questions or feedback do drop by, I’ll be glad to hear from you Letha !

I too missed the cheese and I am glad that you have included your solution in your book. I just ordered it.

I cordially thank you for your contribution to Veganism as a whole and to those individuals like me who faced the challenge of preparing food in their new life style specifically. Undoubtedly, you have helped me all along.

Oh All that is so kind of you to say so, thank you and also thanks for your interest in my book, let me know when you receive it if you have ordered it ! Very best wishes your way and there’s loads more great things to come on my blog etc. so stay tuned and feel free to comment again anytime !

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